The
- Plattsmouth - Journal
Published Semi-Weekly
R. A. BATES, Publisher.
Entered at the Postoffice at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, as second-class
matter.
$1.50 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE
The open winter helps some on the
coal bill.
, :o:
It la now hinted that Hathaway
the author of the hatpin bill, li
somewhat stuck up.
:o:
If the weather forecasts are cor
rect, an excellent Joke is In store
for the flocks ef geese which are fly
Ing northward.
:o:
In Mexico the rebels have taken to
burning customs houses, and for
once It Is easy to see wherein the
rebels are right.
:o:
The open primary Is what the peo
ple want, If It Is not too open The
present primary law needs "fixing,"
and the present legislature does not
want to adjourn until this Is ac
complished. . :o:
At the time of the Hon. Joseph
Weldon Bailey's trouble-, Mr. Lorlmer
was not In the United States Benate.
Hut It Is believed that If he had been
Hilly would have done as much for
Joe as Joe Is doing now for Hilly.
:o:
The republicans of Nebraska are
somewhat divided on Canadian
reciprocity. Hut they will all have
to come to It In the "sweet bye and
bye," when reciprocity becomes gen
eral all over the civilized world.
Senator Ellhu Root fears that with
the election of senators by direct vote
the United Slates senate would
"retrograde." This sentiment Is also
shared, the roll call shows, by Lorl
mer, Guggenheim, Hurrows, Dupont
CurtlR, Dcpew, Stephenson, Dick and
Penrose.
:o:-
io tne isebraska legislators: Only
twelve more days and your allotted j
time Is up. Remember the boss gov-
"film ont-u ,... . a i .t . . I
rnor says you must get through and
adjourn by the first of March. And
.yonr ronstltuentsNvlll feel very grate
iful If you do.
The "Oregon plan" of choosing
United States senators has passed
the Iowa senate. The election of
Senator Hitchcock In Nebraska last
fall has made many legislators In
other states don their thinking caps.
The tools of the corporations In the
United States senate must give way
to honest men.
:o:-
Tho county option question seems
to bo about as dead as a door nail.
Slnco It was defeated In the senate
and Pnrtllng of Otoo county voted
against option, the matter seems to
have dropped out of sight. Mrs
Heald Is Btlll at the state house with
lier little cart of documents and Is
trying to earn her salary,
England ls now very apprehensive
that reciprocity between the United
States and Canada will eventually
mean the annexation of that coun
try. Well, what of it? Our mother
country should iiot be so suspicious.
Children become older and wiser, and
they don't care to be tied to their
mother's apron strings all their lives.
The people will soon have a right
to vote on all questions they want
and don't want. Well, Isn't that the
proper caper? "Let the people
rule." The people are not afraid of
themselves It is the fellows who do
not want the people to rule that the
masses fear. The initiative and
rferendum Is what the people want.
Originally the protective tariff In
this country waa based on the theory
that a moderate duty ou Imported
goods should be maintained until
such time as home Industries could
be thoroughly established and able
to take care of themseWes la com-
it Plattsmouth, Nebraska
petlllon with foreign manufacturers.
The original protectionists were wil
ling to have the duties removed when
that time arrived. This may be
called the Infant industry theory,
nut the trusts, under the guise of
protecting Infant Industries, have
grown to be worth millions upon mil
lions by robbing the people for
years, until the time has arrived that
the people demand that they cut
loose of their cut-throat game.
:o:
Tin: pbi:siii;xt's wakxixg.
President Taft has never before
shown so much Impatience with the
standpatters as ho has manifested In
relation to the proposed Canadian
reciprocity agreement. lie has farlly
warned his party that If concession
aro not made on the tariff In these
times of excessive living cost the peo
pie will kick over the whole pro
tective system. And It Is a particular
credit to the president that he has
taken the measure of public opinion
to this extent.
remaps mo tentative agreement
with Canada is not all It should be,
f.enaior lummlns, who favors It, says
that it Is not. Rut no agreement of
this kind could be reached that would
ue satisfactory to everyone, Always
there would be an opportunity for
Borne leader to do as Cannon has
done In this Instance to appeal to
the selllHh Interest, the Ignorant
prejudice or the political policy of a
class or a section.
But the country knows that ther
are concessions on both sides In this
agreement; that we give and get;
that protection on farm products Is
largely an empty form at best; that It
has been a gold brick to the farmers
for many years. '
Also, the people believe that this
Is the most practical step that could
be taken now In the direction of real
tariff reform, especially as It Is pro-
posed with a contiguous neighbor,
the closest of all foreign countries In
blood, friendship and industrial af
fars a country with which the Unit
ed Stales should maintain the closest
possible trade relations.
Hut more than all, the Canadian
proposition Is a test on the status of
the tariff In general In this country.
No truo tariff reformer can con
sistently oppose this measure Kan
sas City Star.
-:o:-
A wkm o.mi: ciiaxgi:.
Governor Aldrich never appeared
to better advantage than In his
speech before the Young Men's Re
publican club at Lincoln Monday
night. Ho Indulged In no trimming
or dodging; he was candid and
earnest, and at the samo time he had
well under control his weakness for
exaggeration and halt-backed In
vective. If all of Governor Aldrlch's
Public utterances during his term of
offlco should bo as dignified and as
worthy as this one he would finish a
more popular executive than when
he began.
H Is not at all necessary to agree
with the governor on all his various
positions In order to give him this
meed of praise to which he ls en
titled. We think, however, that In
his utterances concerning legislative
"log rolling," In favor of the Can
adian agreement, and In favor of raz
ing tho tariff walls wherever and
whenever they Berve as a shelter to
monopoly, he has well expressed the
enlightened public opinion of Ne
braska. Capital removal Is In no
sense a party question and In his
stand ou this issue the governor will
be approved by members of all
parties and condemned by members
of all parties.
As to tho establishment of an agrl
cultural school In Southwestern Ne
braska, the governor Is well within
bis rights In opposslng u and could
make a pretty strong argument In de-
rense or ms position. There are
strong arguments to be advanced also
on the other side. Hut no argument,
pro or con, can be more weighty with
democratic members of the legls-
lature than the following plank of
the democratic state platform for
I"lvt
e favor the advancement of
agriculture and pledge the legls-
Ut u re, If mim'Hsfiil, to favor the
establishment of an agricultural
school in Southwestern Ne
braska.
If platform are worth the paper on
which they are written, if they are
promulgated honorably and In good
faith, then it would seem that this
plank of the democratic platform
ought to have the most solemn weight
with every democratic member of
the legislature who did not publicly
disclaim it and announce that he
would not be bound by it In his cam-
palgn for election.
The southwestern agricultural
scnooi is as mucn a democratic plat-
form pledge as the initiative and ref-
erendum, and the honor of the derr.o-
rrntlr narfv In Iniinlvml In Oo r..iit
... lu.un-
ment. This, of course, In no wise ap-
plies to Governor Aldrich, who Is not
pledged and is free to take such a
position as his Judgment and con
science dictate.
We want to say again that the gov-
ernor's Lincoln speech comes as a
welcome change. Earnestness and
dignity are always preferable to
demagogy and clap-trap World-
Herald.
:o:
Some people are wondering who is
president of the United States
Taft or Postmaster Ceneral Hitch-
cock. The latter official seems to be
getting too big for his pants.
:o:
Senate r Hitchcock will deliver
the address at the commencement
of the Plattsmouth High school. Our
people have been very fortunato la
securing the new senator for thu
event. , .
:o:
The great railroads of the country
are now endeavoring to show the
farmers how to farm. Then, why
are not the farmers privileged to
show the railroads how to run a rail
road?
:o:
The capital removal will be up
again In a few days, and the vote on
the new bill is expected to result dlf-
ferently. One member of the house
ays it will go through with a whoop.
But we shall see what we shall see.
:o:
The plan for a $100,000,000 motor
car trust sounds entirely plausible.
Competition in the automobile busi
ness has been so keen that some cars
are selling for Just about what they
are worth.
:o: .
It would be a shame if Miss
Dorothy Arnold was found to be dead,
Just as the detectives have discovered
tr many first class "clews" as to her
whereabouts. ;
-:o:-
Ftandpatters will point to Champ
Clark's declaration In favor of
Canadian reciprocity as proof that
tho treaty ought to be rejected, and
this argument may have some weight
with republicans whoso heads are
shaped the same way.
:o:
me man who robbed a Missouri certain electprs discretion to over
Pacltlc passenger train between rule the people, if that seemed neces
Leavenworth and Kansas City Christ- sary or expedient a provision denot-
mas night has been captured. He's
a Chicago man, of course, but the de
tectives deserve great credit for pick
ing him out from among so many
others of the same kind.
:o:
That great "insurgent," George W.
Norrls, is tho only Nebraska con
gressman that voted with that gang
of standpatters against the Canadian
agreement. This Is the very same
Norrls that shoutod at the top of his
voice all during the campaign last
fall for a revision of the tariff
schedule by schedule. What more
could be expected of a man who
voted for Cannon on every occasion?
Norrls Is a snldo.
The Iowa legislature has Just voted
to adopt the Oregon plan, for the
i popular election of senators. Thl,
means that tie people are to choose
their senators for themselves Instead
of having them chosen for them by
the politicians The change ought
to come through constitutional
i
I amendment. If the reactionary sen
Ifltnr rnntiniifl in nrpvpnt that It ull!
come through the spread of the
Oregon plan. For the people are Jo
I
termined to get the control of govern
ment In their own hands.
:o:
As long as Omaua uas John 0.
Yelser, there will always be a muss
and a fuss, because he would rather
stir of a stink of some kind, it mat-
ters not what, just so long as he is
doing something. J. 0. Y. Is certain-
ly the champion fuss and trouble
maker in the state and It is in this
manner he keeps before the public
eye Neraska City News. Nearly
every community Is afflicted with one
0f these nests. Plattsmouth inrinrinri
Out It Is not necessary to single him
out. They all know him, and for
years he has endeavored to keep the
town in a broil. But everybody under
. .
sianus-uis seinsn motives ana are
slow to listen to his walllngs.
-:o:-
In England when the government
makes a stand for a certain kind of
policy and the government Is turned
down by the legislators and the policy
Is defeated, the government goes Im
mediately before the public for
vindication. In which event the gov
ernment Is rejected by the people the
government under tho ovistim?
icBiuie ia tu an enu ana must ne re-
arranged along other lines. Isn't our
stat0 government in this fix at
pre8cnt? 11 ma(le lts fi8nt on the
countv option issue. The governor
was elected, and now he has been
turned down by the legislature and
nls Paramount Issue during the cam
palgn nas been repudiated by the rep-
resentatlves of the people. What Is
Gov'ernor Aldrich going to do about
117 "ill he submit? Or will he affix
018 official signature to the "Sunday
UBno uau ll4W l snow me p.eopie
Knr. V. 1 1 1 It . 1 .,
that he ls wlllInS 1 stand for what-
ever the "boys" demand? Kearney
Democrat.
-:o:
PHKSIDKNTS I5V DIIMX'T VOTK.
In declaring in favor of electing
presidents by direct vole. Colonel
Roosevelt did not make himself clear
as to whetll?r n would merely aban
don the assembling of the electoral
col,eSe asa superfluous formality-
slnce lta factions, Instend of being
"'scretlonary, as intended by the con
stltutlon makers, had become a mere
formality of ratification or whether
he would eliminate electors entirely
and have the people vote directly for
the Presldentlal candidates.
The
fin5t of these metnod3 ould make no
difference in the results; the other
might make the biggest kind of dif
ference,
Three times in the history of presi
dential elections in this country de
feated candidates have received
pluralities of the popular vote. In
1824 Andrew Jackson had a plurality
of 50,551 over John Qulncy Adams,
In 1876 Samuel J. Tilden could not
have been deprived of the presidency
If there had been no electoral college,
for he received a plurality of 250,935
over Hayes. In 1888 Cleveland's
plurality over Harrison was 98,017.
The fundamental Idea of the elec
toral college was two-fold to give
Ing the distrust of popular selection
on the part of the makers of the con
stitution and the election of the
president by states. The electoral
college prevents a state or a group
of states predominantly of one party
from having more than relative power
in the election of the president.
:o:
A SntPIUSK COMING
Some of these days the bankers and
business men of the west will be
astonished at a financial system that
Wall street will hand out to them and
they will find themselves helpless.
Wall street, that Is the great financial
power of this country, Is silently but
effectually working for the Aldrich
system. The master malpulators are
not appealing to the country, but pre
paring for one of their old time coups,
when they rush a bill throun con
gress and it is signed by the president
before the country knows anything
about it. Aldrich has retired from
the senate that he may give his whole
time to this matter. He Is still the
head of that monetary commlsison,
and he Is devoting all of his great
ability to oiling the machinery where
by this scheme may be put through
congress. He ls the greatest manipu
lator of legislation that this country
has every known.
Short items are constantly appear
ing in all of the financial papers of
New York In regard to this scheme
and once in awhile an elaborate
article Is printed. That would not be
the case if the great financial in
terests there were not confident that
the scheme would be put through
One of these longer artlclerappeared
the other day in the Wall Street Jour
nal. It was an effort to popularize the
plan, declaring that the underlying
principle was the same as that on
which this government was founded.
It says:
Applying this principle to the
banking situation, the new
measure proposes that "every
national bank in the country,
however modest its capital or re
mote Its location, shall have a
share In the choice of the dele
gates who utlimately choose the
heads of the federal system.
That is exactly what the system
would do. It would place all the
power that money wields In govern
ment and economics in the hands of
a Tew men elected by the national
bankers. What would the people or
the small bank have left after such
consolidation of power as that? The
tariff question is important and other
questions are important, but our rep
resentatives must not forget this
question. It may prove to be the
most Important question of all..
World-Herald.
:o:
"THE COW PUNCHER" AT
. THE PARMELE TUESDAY
In speaking of the Cow-Puncher,"
which played at the Krug in Omaha
for three nights, the Bee says:.
"The 'Cow-Puncher a western
drama, with Harry C. Bannister In
the leading role of Tom Lawton,
opened a three days' engagement at
the Krug with a matinee yesterday.
The story is the not unusual one of
the handsome city girl who comes
Into possession of a ranch, goes to
live on it, falls In love with the cow
boy manager and marries him after
a series of adventures, which Include
a kidnaping by the cattle thieves.
Dynamite Ann, whose home has been
with Tom Lawton since her father's
death, is marlred to Lawtone brother
after he has mustered the 'nerve' to
propose. There Is in the bill suf
ficient tragedy to satisfy those who
wish an abundance and enough good
comedy to prevent the audience from
becoming depressed. Everything
ends well. Catlos Mendoza, the
greaser, is killed before he accom
plishes murder, and Tom Lawton,
about to hang his brother for a cat
tle thief, discovers his error In the
nick of time.
"Harry C. Bannister makes a good
cowboy and does not over-act the
role. Miss Lola Lee as Geraldine
Graham, owner of the ranch, plays
the part naturally and with effect.
Fred I. Lewis and Crystal Vizard, In
the Juvenile parts, do all that can
be expected of them. The western
atmosphere and the 'business' ls bet
ter than Is found in the average play
of the sort."
At the Parmele theater Tuesday
night, February 21.
Mr. J. W. Steinhart of Nebraska
City who was in town yesterday called
on Sueprlntendent N. C. Abbott at the
High Bchool and addressed the
students on character building and
making the most of their oppor
tunities. Mr. Steinhart Is one of the
live business men of our neighboring
city and has been recommended for
the position of postmaster at that
place and is awaltlngg the confirma
tion of the senate.
Mr. and Mrs. W. II. Seybert of
Cedar Creek were Plattsmouth visit
ors, arriving on No. 4 this morning.
Poultry Wanted
Highest prices paid for all farm
produco.
IIATT PRODUCE CQ.
BILL TO AMEND
8 O'CLOCK LAW
Senator Reagan o! Dcuglas In
troduces Measure in Senata.
OPTION FOB LARGER CITIES.
Local Legislative Authorities May Al
low Saloons to Stay Open Until Mid
night on Petition cf a Majority of
the Voters.
Lincoln, Feb. 17. An amendment to
the 8 o'clock closing law was intro
duced in the senate by Senator Rea
gan of Douglas to give cities the right
to establish for themselves a later
hour for closing saloons.
section in the law reads, after specify
ing that it applies to any city of the
metropolitan class or any city of the
first class with more than 5,000 inhab
itants, "the local legislative author
ities thereof, may, upon the presenta
tion to them of petitions asking such
action be taken, signed by more than
50 per cent of the legally Qualified
voters of such municipality at the last
preceding general election, change the
hour limitation named from 8 o'clock
m. to any hour not later than 12
o'clock midnight." This law would
give Omaha and a number 'of smaller
cities the right to establish for them
selves a later closing hour for the sell
ing of intoxicants.
Contest Case Delayed.
It was announced that the Scheelo-
Wertman contest case was to be post
poned again to Tuesday morning.
The members of the committee, par
ticularly the minority members, who
intend reporting for the Republican
contestant, say positively that this
will be the last postponement. There
will probably be three reports. The
wet majority will report for Scheele,
the dry Republicans for Wertman and
Norton, the dry Democrat, will prob
ably offer a compromise between the
two. Norton has not yet decided ex
actly upon his action and may sign
the minority report. A meeting will
be held by the nine dry Democratic
members before the time comes and
he will abide by their decision in the
matter.
Jolt for County Assessors.
The county assessors of the state
were rather rudely treated by the
committee on revenue and taxation
when the bill which the assessors had
introduced was completely emascu
lated and its intention changed before
the committee would recommend it for
passage. The assessors In a conven
tion agreed upon a bill which would
give them the right of running for a
second term, a privilege now denied,
and a raise in pay. The committee
took this bill as it was Introduced by .
McKlssIck of Gage, chairman of the
committee, and amended It to strike
out both the provisions which the as
sessors were havingvlt offered for and
adding a provision to give the counties
a right to decide at the next election
whether or not the oifice of county as
sessor should be altogether abolished.
Senate Recommends Bills.
After placing Senator Ollls' stock
yards bill on general file, as recom
mended by the committee, the senate
went into committee of the whole.
Bills recommended for third reading
and passage Included the bill of Sena
tor Tibbets fixing the salaries accord
ing to the school population of the
counties, which would result In most
cases In an Increase, and Hongland's
bill removing the restriction upon pe
titions to the governor in regard to
paroles.
Calls So'ons Unruly.
Considerable comment hns resulted
among the members of the legislature
over a sentence in a speech which
Governor Aldrich made nt the convo
cation of the students of the Univer
sity of Nebraska at Memorial hall.
The executive was speaking on
"What ls Edmatlon" and thoiteh hU
Rddrcss was entirely apart from pol
itics. In an "aside." bo uttered the
following words: 'i have been busy
keeping my hands on the Democratic
legislature and I would rather try to
control a carload of donkeys, of which
the party Is symbolical, than do the
work that It requires."
FOUR REPORTS BY PROBERS
Differences of Opinion Concerning
Election Frauds In Omaha.
Omaha, Feb. 17. Disagreement be
tween the members of the legislative
committee on the showing made at
the investigation of the Omaha election
are probably to result in the submis
sion of a minority report in each com
mittee. The Investigation closed and
the Investigators returned to Lincoln.
The membership of each committee
was composed of three Democrats and
two Republicans. Expressions from
committee members and the attituJe
assumed In the Interrogation of wit
nesses Indicate that the minority and
riajniity reports from both tho senate
nnd house committees will bo divided,
perhaps rather closvly on party Uses.
One exception on ouch committee U
posn'blo.
Funeral of Fremont Pioneer.
Fremont, Neb., Feb. 17. Ttie fu
neral of Andrew O. Brush, who for
fifty one yw lived In Fremont, was
held at his lute residence on Main
Street. Itev, W. II. Dun of the Con-
irillonal tlmrih offliintcd.